Assets
From Financial Literacy Wiki
An asset is any economic resources controlled by an entity as a result of past transactions or events and from which future economic benefits may be obtained. Examples include cash, equipment, buildings, and land.
[edit]
Asset characteristics
Assets have three essential characteristics:
- They embody a future benefit that involves a capacity, singly or in combination with other assets, in the case of profit oriented enterprises, to contribute directly or indirectly to future net cash flows, and, in the case of not-for-profit organizations, to provide services;
- The entity can control access to the benefit; and,
- The transaction or event giving rise to the entity's right to, or control of, the benefit has already occurred.
It is important to understand that in an accounting sense an asset is not the same as ownership. In accounting, ownership is described by the term "equity," (see the related term shareholders' equity). Assets are equal to "equity" plus "liabilities."
[edit]
